Whether we like it or not, all parents are bound to be ridiculous, embarrassing, or annoying — or so Adam Gopnik says.

This is the real truth about the present generation of teenagers: The moment the clock strikes to mark your kid’s 13th birthday, your child will instantly discover that no matter how close your relationship is to each other, you have now become the most embarrassing, ridiculous, and annoying person in the world. Yes, this is a universal statement. When just a few moments before, you were the invincible parent who was considered a fountain of wisdom and source of comfort, when your kid turns 13, you immediately become these three things: ridiculous, embarrassing, and annoying.

These three things come in that exact chronological order. First, you are ridiculous because you try to pretend to be a cool parent. You insist that you can tell if your child’s favourite pop music is good or bad, or you know everything about relationships between teenage boys and girls. Second, you are embarrassing because, in addition to being ridiculous, you cannot keep your absurdity to yourself. You go around saying hi to all your 13-year-old’s friends and teachers as if you fit in perfectly in their crowd. Third, you are annoying because, in addition to being ridiculous, and in the middle of the public embarrassment that you are subjecting your child to, you are still confident that you can still dispense wise counsel — and even order your 13-year-old to do what you have advised.

No parent can miss eradicate those three things, but what they can indeed do is to eliminate one of those three as an adjective that can be used against them. You can say, “I may be ridiculous and annoying, but I am NOT embarrassing.” Or, “You can call me embarrassing and annoying, but I am NOT EXACTLY ridiculous.” Yes, one out of three is the game that a 13-year-old’s parent can play.

Our kids continue to assure us that today’s generation of parents (which includes you and me, by the way), is by far the most ridiculous and embarrassing parents ever known. We are ridiculous because, back in our time, our parents liked to tell us stories about the coolness of their teenage days, and we still actually think that our cool youth days are still on-going. We don’t know how so far behind we are already, and yet we continue to act as if we still live in those days. We cannot contain ourselves within the confines of our own generation. We persist in advancing into theirs. How ridiculous is that?

As a parent, have you experienced feeling that you cannot connect with your teenager? How have you bridged the gap between you and your kid?